wine & spirits
cocktails from the garden
T
here came a point last year when i was ready to revolt against the cocktail revolution, which, to my mind, had lost the proverbial plot. Was it a menu involving molecular maraschinos in my beloved Manhattan that had me waving the white flag, or could it have been the bartender boasting the health benefits of muddling açai berries while drowning them in tequila? I have to believe Napoléon was talking about a liquid nitrogen Caipirinha when he said, “There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.” Somewhere along the revolutionary road, honest artisans who used to be known as bartenders became loftily titled “mixologists,” and alchemy gave way to the absurd. The thing is, the fundamentals of a good cocktail are quality ingredients and balance. And so I was happy when a fresh counterinsurgency started to emerge, using simple herbs from the garden to produce sophisticated, unpretentious, and often savory cocktails—cocktails that don’t involve foams and precious berries from Belize. Cocktails that actually taste good with food. Talk about a revolution. The use of herbs in cocktails is nothing new—several centuries before Napoléon arrived on the scene, French monks were experimenting with herbalinfused liqueurs such as Bénédictine and Chartreuse. More recently, in the late ’90s, London bartenders spearheaded the herbal revival with basil leaf and strawberry cocktails, a trend that slowly made its way across the pond with migrating expat bartenders. And, in fact, as recently as five years ago, American bartenders started using herbs in a mainstream and simple way, with excellent 76/
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results. As I recall, around that time the cocktail list at The Hungry Cat in Hollywood featured a Negroni made with rosemary, which was gently muddled just enough to release the herb’s oils. The almost piney, sweet flavor against the bitterness of the drink’s Campari was superb. Imagine sipping this before dinner while eating roasted almonds with fleur de sel and rosemary. Today, in contrast with increasingly overwrought cocktail menus, the growing herbal trend has never looked fresher. Take Adam Seger’s farm-to-bar approach at Nacional 27 in Chicago, where he grows his own potted herbs—such as lavender, rosemary, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and lemon thyme—at the bar, where they go straight into his South American-inspired drinks. Or in Hollywood at the Roosevelt hotel’s P. 78 illustration by belle mellor
CN di gital st udi o
A new kind of drink is cropping up in the best bars: easy on the liquor and heavy on the herbs. Now is the perfect time to shake one up at home. by heather john
cocktails
Library Bar, where the fresh herbs, cherry tomatoes, and flavors get lost. If you have a spirit you like and an herb you leafy greens that bartender Matthew Biancaniello shops for like, try them together, like fennel in a Bloody Mary. What a each week at the year-round farmers’ markets in Southern cool idea,” he says. “Why not just play around and see? You California line the bar in tumblers, waiting to find their way might just surprise yourself.” into, say, an arugula gimlet—a drink so surprisingly simple Which is precisely what I did one afternoon when and spectacular that I can say without any hyperbole that it is I went out to the small herb garden in our backyard to nothing short of revolutionary. pick some mint for a Mojito and found it languishing. Biancaniello has a way with herbs, and his approach I grabbed some sprightly lemon verbena instead, and is as down-to-earth as his cocktails are ethereal. As I watch muddled a Mojito using Meyer lemons and agave. How him muddle velvety sage with yellow raspberries and top it refreshing! Emboldened, I wondered what I could do with with a Bundaberg ginger beer, I realize that the best part my very favorite herb, tarragon. Peaches had arrived at the of this trend is that I don’t need a postgraduate degree in farmers’ market, so I pureed some of the ripe flesh with a organic chemistry to make these drinks at home, which, few sprigs of tarragon, poured a splash of the mixture into let’s face it, is my favorite watering hole. Appropriately a flute, and topped it with Prosecco. And wow. I could— enough, I first met Biancaniello through a mutual friend and did—just eat the puree with a spoon. Better yet, mixed at the farmers’ market just around the corner from my with a lemony Prosecco, the peach-tarragon puree gave house in Los Angeles. We were blocking traffic to a cheese the classic Bellini an herbal kick, creating my new favorite truck manned by a French cowboy from Haute-Savoie brunch cocktail. Hello, poached eggs with béarnaise! I (I don’t make these things up), so the meeting was brief. think you’ve found a new best friend. But I called up Biancaniello and begged to tag along on a While muddling herbs gently releases the oils into a future farmers’ market sojourn. cocktail, sometimes all that’s needed is garnishing with The next weekend we met at the Santa Monica Farmers’ a sprig to add a subtle savory note. Nacional 27’s Seger is Market and made a beeline for the Maggie’s Farm stand, partial to lemon thyme, which he likes to add to a gin and where woven baskets were filled with flowering Thai basil, tonic as a garnish. “The first thing you smell before you chocolate mint, flowering dill, micro arugula, and lavender. take a sip is this citrusy, savory lemon thyme,” he says. The All of these herbs were destined to be used in cocktails that heady herbal scent primes the palate without overwhelming evening at the Library Bar. Biancaniello stressed, “You have the flavor. I can tell you, it’s a great pairing with slowto make sure the herb is in season. If it’s not fresh, it’s not roasted pork and salsa verde. The clean herbal notes of the going to be right.” Later that weekend, I stopped by the dimly crisp cocktail cut through the richness of the pork while lit, clubby bar, where I convinced one of the hotel guests complementing the salsa verde. And with so much fresh basil sitting next to me to order one of those arugula gimlets in the farmers’ market these days, imagine adding a sprig to made with Hendrick’s cucumber-infused gin, even though a Lillet Blanc and soda. Late summer is the ultimate time to I’m pretty sure she was not a gin drinker. She took a sip and get in on the act: Grab some of your favorite herbs from the thanked me profusely. And no nitrogen or other mixological supermarket, your local farmers’ market, or your backyard, sleight of hand was necessary. Just gin, fresh arugula, lime and prepare for a cocktail revelation. juice, and a little agave to sweeten it. The man who is largely credited with starting the Heather John is a contributing editor for the magazine. Her most recent story cocktail revolution over two decades ago, Dale DeGroff, for “Wine & Spirits” was on French rosé. She also blogs at thefoodinista.com. author of The Essential Cocktail, agrees that when it comes to using herbs, it’s best to “keep it simple.” DeGroff The roquette i n g r e d i e nt i n fo Hendrick’s Gin is a recommends mixing herbs with Scottish gin infused with cucumber and Prosecco to create light aperitifs, or makes 2 Named for the French word for rose petals. It’s available at some specialty combining herbs with salt to coat arugula, this fresh take on the gimlet was foods stores and well-stocked liquor stores. the rim of a cocktail glass, like a gin developed by Matthew Biancaniello for the and tonic with a salt and thyme rim. Roosevelt’s Library Bar in Hollywood. Combine 1 cup arugula, agave nectar, and For the cocktail menu at Morandi lime juice in cocktail shaker. Using muddler restaurant in Manhattan, DeGroff 1 cup (loosely packed) or long-handled wooden spoon, mash until baby arugula plus used herbs as a starting point to additional for garnish arugula is wilted, at least 1 minute. Add gin. build light cocktails that would be 41/2 teaspoons dark agave Fill cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Cover food-friendly, like his Chiaro di nectar and shake briefly to chill. Strain into 2 small Luna with fresh pineapple, a sprig 41/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice rocks glasses filled with ice cubes. Garnish 1/2 cup Hendrick’s Gin of rosemary, and Prosecco. “Simple drinks with arugula leaves. Ice cubes and bold flavors work better than those complicated cocktails where 78/
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Fo r m ore d etails, se e so ur cebo o k.
wine & spirits / herbal